


Beyond the boundary of human and beast

by orphan_account



Category: Diabolik Lovers
Genre: Comedy, Dark Comedy, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Smut, Humor, Inappropriate Humor, Multi, Romantic Comedy, Sexual Humor, Shameless Smut, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-09-22 22:26:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9628022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: All her life she had studied, fought, befriended, cared for and even on occasion loved those who were anything but human. Now, her strange world has spiralled into the even stranger as the priests cart her off to the local bloodsucker's mansion see if her charm's can sway the tainted hearts of a creature she has yet to deal with- vampires.





	1. The cellar

Akako quietly slipped around the back of the church, her footsteps light, calculated. Making a beeline for the firewood stacked up against the rear wall, she was careful to keep one eye on the side door she'd come out of. Her dad would be looking for her. Once there, she wasted no time in moving the loose pieces of firewood that had fallen beside the stack to reveal a small, rectangular cellar door. Mischief was slapped onto her face thicker than the make-up she'd caked on. The chains, several inches thick, were so intertwined you could barely glimpse at the burnt ochre of the door they suffocated, with bulbous locks scattered between them. Heavy-duty flowers amongst silver vines. The challenge seemed daunting, but Akako's excited smile widened three sizes more as she expertly slipped a hair grip between her pudgy fingers.

 

"Don't worry, baby, I'll take it slow…" She whispered in a sultry tone, gently stroking a lock with her other hand. "…I know you don't like it rough."

 

A mere 15 minutes later, and the last of the chains had slid off. The door could breathe once more. A triumphant chuckle escaped Akako's lips. She pocketed the old hair grip before lovingly patting the area. She always treat the trusty hair accessory like a dog seeking praise. Akako rolled up her jacket sleeves and moved onto heaving the cellar door, 5 inches of solid wood, open. Her muscles were taunt as the door moaned in protest, the rusted hinges letting out a grating noise that set her on edge. The door eventually swung open, hitting the ground with a dull thump and causing Akako to stumble backwards and clip her head on the edge of the firewood stack. But before she could do anything more than skim the now tender area with her fingertips, the sound of heavy boots on gravel was brought to her attention. It was coming from the path around the corner. Akako cursed softly, leaping through the door hole and swinging the door back shut behind her so fast the hinges rattled at the force. She held her breathe as she listened for the footsteps to pass, her eyes widening as the footsteps paused just in front of the firewood stack. _Crap, has he noticed the cellar door?_

 

It was a false alarm, it seemed. The footsteps carried on, gradually fading until silence surrounded Akako once more. She exhaled, wiping her sweaty hands on her jeans and replacing her nervous grimace with a smug little grin. She'd escaped the grasp of her dad's control once again. She straightened her back, walking down the old stone staircase in front of her with a cocky swagger someone who'd _narrowly_ escaped detection didn't deserve to have.

 

The staircase was narrow and unnervingly steep, Akako's movements wary so as not to miss her footing on the uneven steps. Akako's hand skimmed the cobblestone wall to steady herself, it cold against her palm. The candles on the wall were so few and far between Akako could barely see more than a few feet in front of her, the faint spheres of light casting lanky shadows that crept up the wall alongside the moss. Once reaching the bottom, the corridor widened out considerably, even if the ceiling still hugged the top of her scalp. Along either side of the path loomed walls of thick metal bars, the space behind this barred area sectioned out into cramped little cubes. This wasn't an everyday church cellar. As Akako sauntered down the path, she could hear the prisoners stirring.

 

The deafening silence she'd heard coming down was soon replaced by the usual racket of the inmates reacting to her presence: chains rattling, nails scraping against stone, growls of displeasure and heated insults being hurled across the air. Akako, meanwhile, beamed at every single cell she passed as if their contents were her lover returned from the war. Even if the dreary light of the cells made it almost impossible to see inside (unless you pressed your nose right up to the bars), she knew where each resident was by heart.

 

"Oh, Yuki, you're looking beautiful as always- is that _another_ wart appearing on ya' beautiful mug!?" This was a complete guess on Akako's part as, of course, she couldn't actually see Yuki. "You'll be getting all the other ogres hot and bothered at this rate- I know _I_ am, haha!" Squeals and grunts akin to a starving hog seeing a slob bucket could be heard from the back of the cell. Akako was unsure if they were embarrassed squeals or irritated ones- she wasn't very good at recognising the various emotional cues of Ogre grunts.

 

"Souta, my main man! How's the shedding going, is it time to show me your shiny new scales yet?" All Akako could see as she walked past was the large- as thick as her torso- end of a flax snake tail being whipped out of the darkness to slam against the bars, a hiss seeping out of the dark. Akako laughed heartily, despite the fact she'd just jumped about ten feet in the air. "You Lamia's are always so cold during your shed- I got you that dry skin cream to help, didn't I? Even rubbed it on your scaly ass for you!"

 

Then, after Akako had personally greeted each and every prisoner (all 30 of them), she finally paused. She was at the very last cell. She walked right up to the cell, casually leaning on the bars. "Hey, Umi, babe, how's the flea infestation doing? Terrible time of year to go through such a thing, ain't it?" Akako called out, cheerful. Her eyes were transfixed on Umi's lupine ones. Like gold stars piercing the inky black of the room, they were vacant and unblinking. "Don't look at me like that, I got you some flea shampoo to help." And then, true to her word, she produced a small bottle of dog shampoo from her pocket, tapping it enticingly against the bars.

 

A low voice called out from the shadows, the distorted tone of the beast still having the distinctive ring of femininity, even as her voice retained the gruffness of a man. "What's the price?"

 

Akako's amber eyes glistened in the light, a giddiness spreading through her body that made her skin tingle ever so delightfully. "Come here, and find out."

 

She heard the scraping of Umi's long metal chain dragging across the stone floor first. One end was connected to a heavy silver collar tightly wrapped around Umi's neck, it winking everytime it hit the candlelight, the other end bolted to the back wall. Akako saw Umi's hands appear out of darkness first, reaching out to wrap themselves around a bar each. Inch long claws, curved and black, extended from each of her fingers. Then came the rest of her. Matted fur, the colour of charcoal, covered her lower arms and legs, her face plagued with long, tangled side burns any _man_ might've envied. Added with the thick, unruly tail starting from the base of her spine, and the wolf ears atop her head; you could say Umi was a real _bitch_!

 

Umi stood in front of Akako with trembling limbs, her head lowered meekly as Akako reached through the bars to ruffle her hair. "What is it…you desire this time?" Umi mumbled in a strangled voice, her breaths ragged.

 

"You're the only werewolf I've ever met Umi, and I'm gonna need some information only your species would know," Akako explained, her exuberant attitude near overwhelming. "In exchange, I'll give you a much needed flea bath- and a good hot meal down ya' know, just as a bonus" She added, her goofy smile briefly softening into a warm one, concern reflecting in her gaze. Umi only wore a sports bra and shorts, which drew Akako's attention to the faint outline of her ribcage on the werewolf's near opaque skin.

 

Umi, a fully grown, 6 foot tall werewolf, flinched at the stare of the bubbly human girl who barely reached her chest. "Don't look so glum, sugar, when have I ever tricked you? I always deliver, don't I?" Akako pouted, batting her eyelashes mockingly. A whimper escaped Umi's lips, her ears pinned against her head submissively. Umi always had trouble looking at Akako directly in the eyes. Akako sighed, motioning with her finger for Umi to look up.

 

"Listen, you know how my dad, the priest, is aware I can tame you guys- 'inhuman beasts of the devil', as he would say?" Akako paused as the werewolf began to growl angrily, her frail chest vibrating. Reaching through the bars once again, Akako gently stroked Umi's hair, trying to soothe the beast. All the creatures under the church loathed her father, the very person who ordered their imprisonment. "Yeah, well, the truth is, he's out to prove I shouldn't be so cocky in my taming talents, and he wants to show me the severe consequences my 'misguided trust' in you supernatural folks can get me- mainly death. So he's making me go away for a while, off to tame some new beasts still living freely in the world." Umi's ears twitched, her curiosity peaked. "They wouldn't tell me anything except that they'd be six of em', so I snuck around my dad's office and found the old files- fucking idiots didn't even have any locks on the cabinets, just the room...what is this, amateur hour?" Akako paused to chuckle at the priest's stupidity, only continuing when Umi's lips curled back to reveal canines, her impatient for Akako to continue. "Sorry, sorry. Anyway, the reason I'm asking for information from you is because I figured out their vampires, and I don't even have experience dealing with _one_ of the bloodsuckers, never mind a house full of six! So I need your help on getting intel on them- werewolves are vampires natural enemies, right? You must know LOADS of their weaknesses."

 

Umi's meek manner vanished almost immediately at Akako's final words. The werewolf nodded her head enthusiastically as her tail wagged behind her in feverish excitement. Akako giggled, finding the action strangely charming. Werewolves were almost too easy to get to cooperate when they knew they were gonna be causing someone else problems. Meddlesome little beasts.

 

"Well then, get stripped, babe, I'll draw the bath! We're about to have a _loooong_ talk…"


	2. Mouth of the vampire lair

**‘I forgot to wear my cross tonight, I left my garlic at ho-o-me! It's so dumb but it's so fun to wander 'round the city alone!** **I'm runnin', fallin' down, chase me all around this town. Now you've finally got me, what am I to do-o-o-o~!?’**

Electronic music blasted out of Akako’s headphones as she stormed along the edge of a narrow road wedged between walls of towering pine trees. She had long strayed from the main town roads. The wheels of Akako’s suitcase were getting snagged on by the increasing amount of cracks in the asphalt, tripping her up every few steps. Nobody ever went to this area of town, not even a whisper of wind penetrated the stale air of the forgotten place.

 

Her father had barged into the cellar last night to find not only a stark naked werewolf running free from her chains, shaking soapy water everywhere, but also Akako in possession of _extremely_ private documents the church held about the six vampires she was about to meet. He’d been less than thrilled. As punishment, he’d cancelled the limo the vampire’s had sent for her, curtly informing his daughter she’d be _walking_ to the next town over. Akako, of course, had given him a few _choice_ words about the new arrangement, his retaliation throwing her suitcase out the front door and locking her out.

 

**‘Sexy vampire, I'm falling in love, so just bite me baby and drink all my blood- _Oh yeah_ \- Sexy vampire, I'm falling in love with you…So do what you want to do!’**

 

At least Akako had managed to complete her entirely vampire-themed playlist before she’d gotten herself kicked out. A normal person would’ve searched for an umbrella at seeing the murky, overcast sky, but Akako priorities were never quite straight.

 

**Sexy vampire, I'm falling in love, so just bite me baby and drink all my blood- _oh yeah_ \- Sexy vampire, I'm falling in love with you…’Cause you need my plasma more than I do~!**

 

The phone in her pocket began to vibrate.

 

After three hours of trekking through an unfamiliar town, the map app on her phone finally flashed up with the words she’d been waiting for- ‘you have reached your destination’. Despite her ragged breaths, Akako managed to let out a triumphant _whoop_ , looking ahead to see colossal iron bars encircling a property in the distance. Ignoring the intense burning in her thighs, she sprinted till her stubby legs brought her right in front of the wrought iron gate. Her chest was heaving. An intricate design was placed in the centre of it; a thin knife with some sort of jewel on the end of the hilt. _This is the crest of the vampire clan_ , Akako realised, remembering how Umi had spoken of the immense pride a vampire possessed for their family, or ‘clan’. And these vampire’s, the ‘Sakamaki’ clan, had good reason to have pride. After all, it was the Sakamaki’s who owned what could only be described as the _castle_ in front of her! Various vines, roots and moss grew up the side of the ancient stone walls, curling around six rows of huge, arched, paned glass windows going up the building. Akako let out a small, awed gasp, staring wide-eyed through the bars. _Six? Each vampire has their own floor!?_

 

“Maybe I should work off site more often” Akako said, laughter in her tone. “A sight better to look at than that dreary jail in the cellar.”

 

Hastily pressing the intercom, her fingers trembled with anticipation. When the two sides of the gate slowly began to split, cutting the crest in half, Akako sucked in her breath and impatiently slipped through the open space before the gate had even half-finished opening. She pranced down the path, exhilaration running through her veins. She felt like a child about to meet Santa at the mall…that is, if Santa craved your blood, and treated your species like cattle ready for the slaughter.

 

Regardless, this human was more than prepared to deal with the advances of her six new fanged roommates.

 

As she reached the cover of the porch, Akako pulled down her headphones. She moved to grab the ring hanging from the mouth of a bronze lion head bolted to the front door. She hastily banged one, two, three times, the heavy thuds echoing deeply through the wooden door.

 

Akako waited.

 

And waited.

 

Then…

 

She waited some more.

 

With the increasing chill slicing through her thin coat like a knife through butter, her already thin patience was thinning further.

 

Akako’s hand dipped into her pocket to feel around for a hair grip. “Well, I’ve never tried it out on such an old lock before…But there’s a first time for everything, I suppose.”

 

But just as Akako’s hand reached out to touch one of the brass handles, the door let out a click and pushed itself inwards. Her hand froze, before her outstretched fingers curled back towards her palm. Akako stared curiously at the door, expecting an encore to the strange act, before shaking her head and laughing at herself when it didn’t move again.

 

“Well, that’s…interesting.” She mumbled, a stupid grin plastered on her face. She grabbed her suitcase and scampered into the front hall, nearly tripping with giddiness. Akako started to saunter, humming along to a tune only she heard, the red carpet beneath her making her feel like a movie star. Akako met the bottom of a grand staircase, and moved to stand beside one of the squatting gargoyles at the end of the banister. It was then that she noticed something strange. The golden chandelier above her was holding candles, dozens upon dozens of real, wax-dripping wicks lighting the room just as effectively as any lightbulb could. _Just how old fashioned ARE these boys?_ Akako pondered.

 

But soon realising she had no idea where the head of the family was, and that no one was coming to address her presence anytime soon, Akako was stumped about what to do. Looking around her, she saw four different corridors leading out of the hall, and a staircase behind her that branched off into two more sets of stairs leading to opposite ends of the house. Despite an almost desperate need to scratch the curiosity that itched her, Akako knew that in addition to getting completely lost, being caught rudely snooping around wouldn’t be a great first impression either. She cupped her hands around her mouth.

 

“HELLO-O-O!” She called, her voice echoing across the room. “MR VA-A-AMPIRES~!” When no one _still_ came to address her presence, she sucked her teeth in annoyance. _Don’t they have butlers or maids or **someone** to greet guests, I mean, they can already afford to live in a mansion- is hiring some staff too much trouble? _Just as Akako got ready to shout again, a flash of lightning from the storm brewing outside caught her eye. The flash lit up a large pane window on a dark hallway that veered to the left, revealing (just for a few moments) a young man sleeping beneath the panes. He was lanky, his slender limbs sprawled out ungracefully on a leaf green couch with mahogany legs. Akako’s lips silently formed an ‘O’, wondering how she could’ve missed seeing him on the way in.

 

Leaving her suitcase by the gargoyle, Akako crept up to his side. He wore a black school uniform with a red silk tie; trainer laces undone, wrinkled white shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest and one pant leg inexplicably rolled up to his knee. Crouching down next to the young man- no, _vampire_ \- Akako struggled to figure out why a creature who was actually centuries older than they looked would need to go to a human high school. Grabbing him by the shoulders, she gently shook him, wishing for him to wake up and answer the question himself. But the vampire was in a deep sleep and refused to waken.

 

“Oi, come on, are you seriously asleep or just ignoring me no- _Ooooh_!” She cut her own frustrated mumbling off, freezing. With her eyes drawn to his exposed chest, she carefully watched to see it wasn’t rising and falling as someone breathing should. Her amber eyes flashed with intrigue. Glancing at his face carefully, she moved to press her ear against the left side of his chest. The freezing temperature of his skin was a shock to her senses. On instinct, Akako flinched and moved her head away, but not so fast that she didn’t notice the lack of beating from a heart. An excited Akako’s heart palpitated at the discoveries. _Cold skin, lack of heartbeat and no need to breathe…just as the werewolf said!._

Just as Akako went to touch his chest once more, a chilling hand darted out to grab her wrist, stopping her. Akako jumped, looking to the vampire’s face and seeing a pair of narrow green eyes sleepily glaring back.

"Damn, you're touchy." He groaned quietly, sitting up in the couch. His fingers were still wrapped around her wrist. "This isn't your house, you can't just come in here and touch what you like." His voice was gruff, a scowl on his face.

 

Akako moved closer to the vampire’s face, as if greeting a lifelong friend. A mix of fear and thrill rushing through her veins, a smirk was spread across her cheeks.

 

"I-I’m Sorry, I was just…appreciating what was in front of me?" She explained in an awed whisper, before shaking her head in embarrassment. “Wait, I guess that sounded weird, no, I meant I’ve just never met a vam-"

 

“What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this, huh?” He interrupted with a smirk, his tone suddenly eager. _Wait, is he trying to…flirt with me?_ Akako realised with an amused scoff. She decided to play along.

 

"Well I was just, you know, in the neighbourhood, decided to drop by…" Akako spoke offhandedly, her smile jokingly coy. He laughed in return, swiftly wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her plump body towards him. Akako gasped in surprise. She was pinned down by him sandwiching her hips with his locked knees, her back digging into the cushions. Akako's hands instinctively went to grip his shoulders, squeezing softly.

 

"Well...what exactly are you going to do now, Mr _Sakamaki_?" She casually asked, the wind knocked out of her. She had thoroughly assessed all the files the church had on each brother of the family, but Akako was still unsure if the unruly reddish-brown mop of hair this vampire held meant this was the one called ‘Ayato’ or ‘Laito’. Both were redheads, she recalled.

 

He chuckled darkly, bending his head down towards my neck. "Oh, you already know whose house you entered, huh?” He murmured against her skin, his cold tongue poking out to greet the skin of her neck. "You showed up right when I'm hungry as well, aren't I lucky?"

 

Akako shivered in disgust at the unfamiliar sensation. She had hoped they'd at least exchange names before they started the blood-sucking business, but it seemed that he was the type of guy to jump straight into the action. It was a terrifying situation for some, but Akako was used to catering to the differing quirks of supernatural beast’s, and so ignored the frightful pounding of her heart just as she'd learnt to do.

 

"Come on, dude, what are you doing? Can I at least get your name before you start wiping your saliva all over me?" Akako complained, wiping the wet trail he'd left behind. She glanced at him with her left eyebrow cocked in question. He just retorted with a scoff, continuing the business he started. Shifting beneath him, she pushed against his shoulders as he took a second, third, and forth taste.

 

"What lively prey you are, comical too. But don't struggle…be a little…less…wriggly…" He demanded, goosebumps following the trail his tongue pathed on her skin. When Akako felt him pause, opening his mouth wide by the nape of her nape, she realised he was about to bite. Eyes flashing with feverish delight, she suddenly tightened her grip on his shoulder and wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him against her. To his shock, her technique won against his inhuman strength and she was able to reverse their positions. Now, she was the one straddling him against the couch. She held a brazen expression as she looked down at the vampire’s astonished one.

 

“You know, brutes like you always think you can push us helpless human’s around, but overwhelming strength means nothing once the ‘lively prey’ learns how to direct the beast’s own power back on himself” She explained, starting to idly trace the contours of his chest with her index finger. “So, why don’t we get to know each other a bit better before I let your fangs- or anything else of yours, for that matter- inside me…okay, babe?” The vampire was initially angered by her teasing reply, but soon his expression morphed into baffled intrigue. He had dealt with boldly defiant human girl’s before, no doubt, but Akako could tell by his hesitation to react that he yet to meet one that could back up that defiance with more than just talk. Just as he'd opened his mouth to retort, a voice cut across the corridor, causing both of them to turn to the direction of it.

 

**_"Must you be so noisy, Ayato?” A deep voice announced, annoyed. “Always causing such a commotion right after waking up, please learn to be more considerate."_ **


	3. Family Meeting

As the intruder ran a hand through his slicked-backed hair, the colour of ash, Akako's attention was drawn to the butler-like white gloves on his hands. Was BUTLER fashion just all the rage with the young vampires now? Akako could only wonder.

 

"Can you do anything else but stand there with that idiotic expression on your face?" The intruder Akako recognised to be 'Reiji' sneered, Ayato looking almost like a child who'd just been found pinching cookies from the cookie jar- _Then again_ , Akako pondered, _to vampires at least, human blood would be akin to the_ _sweet taste of a cookie…_

 

She felt Ayato tense up beneath her and utter Reiji's name in surprise, before relaxing and _tsk_ ing in annoyance. Akako took this moment to glance at Reiji with a sheepish grin.

 

"Oh. Hey, dude. You just gonna watch or do you want to join us, I'm sure there's room here for you somewh-!" Before Akako could finish, Ayato abruptly sat up, shoving Akako from him and causing the girl to fall onto the floor. She fell right on her hip, glasses flying off her face to slide across the floor. Akako's thoughts immediately jumped to scratched lenses. _MOTHERFUCKER!_ Immediately turning to hook her foot around Ayato's dangling leg, she yanked down in retaliation. Ayato quickly ended up joining her on the floor. His legs tangling with hers every time he tried to stand, the short-tempered redhead then raised his arms to lunge at Akako. _Bring it on_ , her eyes taunted, lips curled up into a smug grin.

 

"This is the entrance hall, Ayato," Reiji began to lecture, Ayato begrudgingly dragging his focus away from vexing girl. "This place is meant to greet our guests, so do take _those_ kinds of activities to your private room."

 

Ayato rolled his eyes at his brother's words and moved to sit on the sofa again, grumbling under his breath. Akako quietly sniggered at the redhead for being told off like a child, before jumping up to pick up her glasses. With her red spectacles once again secured on her face, she managed to get a good look at Reiji.

 

Everything about Reiji's appearance showed he had a professional style to him. The shine of his polished shoes was clear even in the dim corridor, the buttoned red vest over his suave black shirt providing a tasteful pop of colour to his uniform. His school jacket, entirely void of creases, was the only similarity in his and Ayato's uniform choice.

 

Akako boldly skipped forward, sticking her hand out excitedly. "Hey, you're Reiji, right?"

 

Reiji gave her a quick, disconcerted glance, asking who she was. He pushed his slim glasses up his sharp, pointed nose. He made no motion to meet her extended hand. _Jackass_. Akako carried on cheerfully, unperturbed. "I'm Akako, nice to meet ya! Starting from today, I'm gonna be your new roommate- _whoop, whoop!_ " Reiji _still_ didn't move to shake her hand, which she continued to stubbornly stick out. Her smile wavered.

 

Akako eventually had no choice but to awkwardly lower her hand back to her side, Reiji's piercing red eyes burning a hole through her.

 

"Living with us? I've heard nothing of the sort! Ayato, what is the meaning of this?" Reiji sharply questioned, turning to Ayato.

 

" _Urgh_ …I dunno! _Chibi Koinu_ , you didn't say anything about that before!" Ayato quickly replied in defence.

 

"Well I was _going_ to, but then you suddenly decided you wanted to chomp on my neck like some hickey enthusiast so I forgo…wait a minute, 'Chibi Koinu'? What's that supposed to mean?" Akako said, stopping myself mid-sentence to cast Ayato a quizzical gaze. Why was he calling her a 'little puppy'?

 

Ayato clicked his tongue in annoyance, as if the answer was obvious. " _Baka_ , it's because of how disappointing your chest is, not like the big dogs I'm used to!" He exclaimed, rolling his eyes. Akako took a step back at his explanation, the phrase, 'what a fuckboy', coming to mind.

 

"Hey, they may not be Great Danes, but they're certainly not Chihuahuas either!" She retorted playfully, proudly crossing her arms across her chest. "Besides, I find it hard to believe someone like _you_  would know their way around a dog park."

 

Ayato looked taken aback by response, at first. It eventually morphed into embarrassed rage. Ayato opened his mouth to retort, only to find Reiji cut through his words before they'd even left his lips.

 

"Leave it, Ayato. You-" Reiji glanced at Akako. "-Come this way, I will need to sort out the matter of why you're here, _immediately_." He instructed Akako, curtly turning on his heel and marching out of the room without a hint of choice in his demand.

 

Akako jolted into movement, seeing Reiji vanish around a corner before she could blink. Reiji wasn't the type of guy to wait on others. Just before she'd dashed around the corner herself, Akako cast a quick look behind her to see that the redhead was still staring at her from the couch, deep in thought. She pulled down her eyelid and waggled her tongue at him, not unlike a child, before running off to follow Reiji. She heard Ayato shout 'Oi!' behind her, much to her delight.

 

Akako passed through the main hall from earlier to see an old butler, hunched and wrinkled, at the bottom of the stairs. He was juggling her suitcase as well as several other of her bags that had needed to be sent down to the mansion separately. He was striding upstairs faster than any man half his age could. Akako questioned if he was any more human than the owners of the house.

 

By the time Akako had caught up to Reiji, the poor girl having to had practically run just so she could keep up with Reiji's long strides, he had already entered a large living room. The room's aesthetic seemed to be of a Victorian-gothic variety, the colour scheme a rich, cobalt blue. Along the walls were rows of beautiful coloured glass windows. They each had varying fractal designs, filling every inch of the regal window frames in a kaleidoscope of vivid hues. But amongst these iridescent pieces of art were the starkly different portraits of stuffy old aristocrats, each posing with intense scowls on their flabby jowls. But Akako didn't care about all that pointless crap- where was the games console, the DVD player, the flat screen TV!? Was it just the fact the creatures were older than her _grandparents_ that made them lack any current technology in their big fancy mansion? Akako could only guess.

 

As Akako walked around the mahogany coffee table to launch herself at the centre of a three-seater couch, she raised an eyebrow to one of the two matching armchairs adjacent to her. There sat Ayato, similarly slouching like Akako and glaring at her as if she and Reiji had taken too long. Akako had a feeling he hadn't just taken a shortcut. This was vampire-related, she knew it.

 

"Now, in the interest of formality, tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to this house." Reiji said, sounded like he was anything _but_ interested in her frivolous life story. The unwelcome atmosphere she'd felt radiating from Reiji since he'd first opened his mouth to her was uncomfortably spiking.

 

She shook her head and opened her mouth, determined to ignore the hostilities- only for a voice to cut through her own.

 

"Oh my, oh my, oh my, what do we have here~?" A cheerful voice giggled, coming from the far-left side of the room. It was where a small staircase, leading up to an indoor balcony, dwelled. "Is it really true? That there's a cute little human girl here?" His voice was musical, it rising and lowering in pitch at almost every word. Akako saw the owner of the voice leaning over the banister, looking down with eyelids lustily hooded over intense jade eyes. He had a burgundy jacket on under the same school blazer as his brother's, the hood bordered with white fur. As she gave him a coy little wave, one of her eyebrows curiously raised, his mouth instantly curved into a flirtatious smirk. He was a redhead, just like Ayato- which meant this had to be 'Laito'. Although he had the same coloured hair as Ayato, Laito's was longer and messier, most of it covered by a large black fedora.

 

"Sup, you're Lai- _Eww_ , dude, what the hell!" She blurted out with a flinch, feeling something cold and wet trail up her right cheek. She instinctively turned around to slap the chest of the tongue's owner, shoving him away. It was Laito himself, sitting cross legged by her side. She'd never even saw him walk down the stairs, so how could he have gotten to her side so fast? More questions swirled around Akako's mind, a hurricane of curiosity wrecking havoc inside her skull."Come on, most people say _hello_ as a greeting…is all of this licking really necessary?" Akako said with an eyebrow cocked in question, wiping her cheek with her sleeve. Disgusting.

 

Laito simply giggled. " _Fufufu_ …well, hello, hello, hello. It's nice to meet someone who smells so nice and sweet." He was hot, Akako could give him that, but his attempts to charm her had an underlying creepy factor she couldn't ignore. But before she could tell him what a creep he was being, Reiji scolded the Fedora Freak about his bad manners. Reiji told him Laito shouldn't do be licking a 'lady' in their first meeting. For a bloodsucking vampire, who probably had no qualms about killing humans for a snack, Reiji did hold some _strange_  gentlemanly qualities. " _Nfu_ , Reiji is as stiff as usual. Isn't it fine to sample a girl if she's delicious?" Laito answered, his tone innocent.

 

Akako started giggling. "Well, I _was_ gonna make a joke about licking girls on a first meeting, but you know what, I think I'll just leave that up to your imagination…"

 

Laito froze, completely taken aback by the joke, before his eyes lit up and his giggles started to mix with hers. Reiji directed the glare of a disappointed mother at the dirty-minded pair.

 

Ayato didn't seem to appreciate the two of them bonding. "Knock it off, bastard, I'll kill you. _Ore-Sama_ saw her first, so putting your drool on Chibi Koinu after I did is not an advised thing." He complained, glaring at Laito as if his brother was claiming the shiny new toy for his own.

 

"Ha, you have to put your saliva on delicious things or uncivilised brother's like you will eat them up first." Laito replied.

 

"Errm, bro….do I get no say in this?" From the displeased scoff she got from Ayato, and the disbelieving guffaw from Laito, it seemed Akako did not. Before she could ask Reiji for some back-up on the subject, someone else entered the room.

 

"-Hey, let me have a taste too. Though, you're not allowed to move, okay…" A young boy requested in a soft, yet mature, voice. He leaned over the back of the sofa to lick Akako behind the ear before she'd even processed what he'd said. She jumped about ten feet in the air, hand over her hammering heart as she stared wide-eyed at the boy.

 

"WOAH, you scared the crap outta me, man! Can you guys just, like _, not_ move at lightning speed around me? My poor brain can't process this shit!"

 

He was short, even by Japanese standards, though still a good 2 or 3 inches taller than Akako's measly stature. His baby face didn't help him in looking any older than 12 either. But it was his lilac strands, matched with the even darker purple bags under his eyes, that triggered Akako's memory. _He's one of the triplets_ , Akako thought, _the only one who wasn't a redhead…Kanata, was it?_

 

"You taste sweet…" He confessed, staring at her with the blank, glazed over eyes of a dead fish. "Unusually delicious, well, at least compared to the other dirty human race…"

 

"Erm…" Akako stared at him with her mouth opening and closing stupidly, unable to decide whether what he'd just said was a compliment or not. Laito laughed and commented that 'Kanato' was confusing the poor girl. _Oh, so that's his name- eh, I was close enough,_ Akako thought.

 

"Well, you're a weird one, aren't you, Kanato…though I guess that's not such a bad thing. I think I've said weirder things to strangers, to be honest." She said with a cheerful grin, her head cocked to the side. Kanato gave a long, hard stare at her response, silent, before abruptly turning to his brothers and asking why this girl was in their house. He was ignoring her completely. Akako felt like addressing what that stare was about, but she had enough sense to know it was probably for the best she just held her tongue- this time, anyway.

 

There _had_ to be something wrong with Kanato, even by vampire standards...

 

He dressed just as smartly as Reiji in a maroon vest and knotted red string tie, but also had on three-quarter length shorts, knee high socks and was clutching a teddy bear to his chest- Akako knew that any _sane_ teenager would not be choosing that as a fashion statement anytime soon!

 

But while Akako contemplated Kanato's fashion sense, the boys began to bicker amongst each other.

 

"She's gonna make a nice side dish~!" Exclaimed Laito, moving even closer to Akako than he already was. At this point, you could just say he was practically sitting on her lap.

 

Ayato was quick to smugly retort. " _Baka!_ You have it all wrong if you think she's _your_ side dish. This one is mine, because Ore-Sama saw her first, _hehe_."

 

Reiji took this chance to finally piped up, an amused smirk plastered on his face. "But, Ayato, you did fail to eat her when you had the chance."

 

Akako sighed, sinking back into the couch and, in consequence, Laito. She figured that perhaps it would be for the best to quietly watch the brothers squabble among themselves- anything she said at this point would be quickly muted anyway.

 

"Fuck off Reiji! Don't say unnecessary things!" Ayato yelled, jumping out of his seat as if ready for the fight to turn physical. Akako eyes eagerly darted between each brother, thinking a real fight between vampires might become the most interesting thing to happen since she'd first stepped foot into the vampire lair.

 

"Ha, how dull this all is." A gruff voice announced, seemingly coming from, well, _nowhere_. "I'm so sick of you addressing yourself as 'Ore-Sama' as well. It's getting pathetic." Ayato hissed for 'Subaru' to stop messing around, ordering for 'the bastard' to show himself.

 

This 'Subaru' happily obliged, appearing in the middle of the room as by magic. Akako let out an impressed _woah_ , sitting up with a jolt. Umi had mentioned they could teleport- but Akako never imagined she would get to see the skill in action, with her own two eyes, so soon.

 

"So cool~!" She squealed, causing every vampire in the room to stare at her as if she was insane. She couldn't blame them; she was sure the humans that came here before her weren't as excited to witness such tricks. She shrugged innocently, mumbling defensively that it _did_ look cool…

 

"I thought I smelt human around here…the reason is you, huh." Subaru grumbled miserably, glaring at Akako through his white, overgrown side-fringe with the same crimson coloured eyes as Reiji.

 

"You know it, babe." She said with a laugh, throwing him a quick wink. He took a step backwards, spluttering like a broken sprinkler as red filled his pale cheeks. Despite his gruff voice, Subaru must've been of a similar age to the rest of them, the school blazer- and his hilariously pre-teen abashment to flirting- proof enough of that.

 

It took a moment, but Subaru finally managed to get out the words he wanted to say. "W-Well, thanks to you my precious sleep was interrupted…w-what do you have to say to that?"

 

Flashing him a teasing little smirk, Akako immediately retorted with- "I'm…sorry, I guess? I can't control how strongly I smell, sadly. Although, I did have a bath this morning, if that helped at all, and I haven't had a shit since-"

 

Akako's sense of humour was not by shared by Subaru. Her joke was cut off by the albino slamming his fist into the nearest wall. She swore in surprise, staring at the mini crater in awe. Loose pieces of wall split and fell onto the floor, creating a pile of rubble by Subaru's feet. Laito chucked.

 

"Wo-oah! As hot headed as ever, little brother, _Kukuku._ " Laito giggled, tipping his hat towards Subaru in praise.

 

"Shit, man, you got hot-headed right…" Akako mumbled, shaking her head in disbelieve.

 

"Least I'm not some year-round slut!" Subaru growled back at Laito. "I wouldn't dare bring myself to think of you as my older brother!"

 

Akako turned to Laito with the smuggest grin Laito had ever seen. "Yeah, Laito, it's _wrong_ to be some year-round slut- you gotta be a seasonal slut, like, only be slutty in the summer and spring!" The shriek of laughter she let out after was ugly and loud, but Akako was far too amused at her own joke to care. The boys in the room, _again_ , struggled to find a similar amount of comedic value in it...

 

"…How annoying, if you all don't close those impudent mouths of yours, I'll chop them up, you know?" Kanato said, bored of the arguing. Subaru scoffed and called him a pipsqueak, brushing off his threat with a sneer. That's when Reiji felt responsible to add to the quarrelling.

 

" _ **Go burn in hell and squabble as you wish**_ …is what I would _like_ to say to you all, but I'll restrain myself. I'm not about to tolerate my naughty brothers struggling for this idiotic girl!" Reiji said, "Even a gentle person like me will start to become angry at such a farce…" The hardened expression on his face was the complete opposite image of 'gentle'.

 

Akako wasn't too happy about being called an idiot either, but she didn't want those sharp eyes glaring at _her_ like some angry mother scolding her child, so she kept her mouth shut.

 

"It's time for me to take control of this situation- since the rest of you are content to just squabble amongst yourselves." He paused to send each brother a stern glare. "Firstly, I would like to know _why_ this girl has stumbled into our home!"

 

Silence met his question. Only the dull puff from a cushion was heard when Ayato threw himself back into his armchair.

 

"You there, girl. No one else knows why you're here, so you had better explain yourself, and quickly…" A sadistic smirk then appeared on Reiji's face. "Unless you want to be struck by my whip, that is?"

 

Akako suppressed a shudder. Trying to ignore the jolt of fear she got from his threatening tone, she did what she always did when one of her new clients freaked her out- make an inappropriate joke to distract herself.

 

"You whip people here? That's a little kinky, isn't it?" She snorted, wagging her eyebrows suggestively "…No? Alright, I understand, no need for that sort of thing- _tonight,_ anyway. Look, my dad's the head priest of the church in the next town over, and I was told by him to come and stay with the Sakamaki family for a little whi-"

 

Ayato started laughing. Loudly.

 

"- _Pff_ , _Hahahaha_! Wait, wait…you're telling me that…that _**you're**_ a girl of the church?" Ayato then laughed so hard he was gasping for air.

 

"Hmm, to think that a girl of the Lord is in this residence, what fate..." Reiji wondered aloud, making Akako switch between glancing at Reiji and Ayato in disbelief.

 

"Seriously? Just because my _dad_ is a religious nut, doesn't mean _I_ am…I mean, have you seen what I'm wearing? The nuns have a heart attack every time they see me walk by." Akako scoffed, pointing to her satanic heavy metal band t-shirt, black ripped jeans and studded leather jacket. "I once pretended to pray to Satan on Halloween, and I ended up making the prank so realistic, the old priest who caught me had to be taken to hospital because his blood pressure went through the roof!"

 

" _Fufufu_ , even so, it's still strange that someone with connections to the church would refer you to _this_ place, of all things." Laito murmured, gazing at her curiously.

 

Akako rolled her eyes.

 

"Is it really so strange? I mean, I already know a girl is chosen to be sent to here by the church monthly. The only reason _I'm_ here is because I found out my good mate, Yui, happened to be next in line and I secretly took her place so she could carry on living her normal life. I mean, aren't strange girls coming to stay here a common thing for you by now?"

 

Although the church were the ones who picked the girls to send to the Sakamakis, Akako knew that the girls came from anywhere across the country; reform schools and orphanages, to boot camps and foreign exchange students from high school programs. Perhaps, Akako considered, she was just the first girl to ever actually come from the church itself. The other girls might not have even known it was her father's church that had condemned them to unknowingly enter a vampire's lair. Akako's father was very good at covering up his sticky little tracks.

 

The air became thick and heavy at her words. Each vampire flashed Akako looks with varying degrees of alarm. She gulped nervously, shrinking back slightly. Perhaps she'd said too much, too soon.

 

"Hold on now. How could _you_ possibly know about our monthly arrangements? And how did you know it was a church that selects them?" Reiji questioned with deadly chill in his tone. She laughed awkwardly, wishing that she would learn to stop running her gob on for longer than she needed to.

 

"Well, my father _is_ the head priest, you know. He's the one in charge of sending the girls here, it wasn't too long before I found out what he was up to..." Then she paused, glancing away to stare at the wall, sheepish. "...That won't be an issue, will it?" 

 

Reiji's steely gaze was answer enough to her question. But Laito seemed to enjoy the fact she knew.

 

Laito cheerfully spoke, his arm snaking behind her to wrap around her waist. " _Eh_ , come on Reiji, who cares if she knows about the other girls- she clearly isn't the jealous type!" He murmured in that musical voice of his. A squeak of surprise escaped Akako's mouth as Laito's hands affectionately pulled her body even closer to him. "You know, it's so unbearable living in a house full of men, _Bitch-Chan._  I'm sure you living with us for a bit will help this become a warmer place..."

 

The little man-slut even had the nerve to bury his nose into Akako's neck, sniffing deeply.

 

"Who…who the fuck do ya think you're calling Bitch-Chan, _Bastard-Kun_!?" Akako was filled in indignation, pushing against the restraint of his 'loving' embrace with her elbow. The upbeat way Laito had called her a bitch made it seem like he was complimenting her. "My names Akako, don't ju-"

 

"-Oi, all this commotion is getting too loud." A voice complained, another- _and final_ , Akako noted- brother teleporting in to complain about his beauty sleep. His slightly curled, pale blonde hair was tousled from sleep, the school blazer he wore over his beige sweater draped around him like a blanket. He was sprawled out on one of the empty sofas in the far corner of the room, listening to whatever music was coming from the earphones stuck in his ears. When he addressed the room, his eyes remained closed.

 

Akako greeted him with a chuckle. "Oh, hey, you come to join the party?"

 

"Hmm…perhaps you're the girl that person mentioned." Shu mumbled. Akako wasn't sure who 'that person' was, but she could only assume he'd meant their father- the church files had made it clear the priests had never directly communicated with the princes before, only their father.

 

Ayato became curious and asked 'Shu' if he knew Akako. The boy known as 'Shu' shrugged his shoulders, nonchalant.

 

" _Ugh…_ Don't just brush the question off, I want an explanation, in detail." Kanato demanded, strangling his teddy's neck in frustration.

Shu sighed deeply, as if it was too much effort to even open his mouth, before lazily informing them- "That person called the other day to say we'd be getting a 'special' guest from the church. He wished for us to all get along and treat her with respect...or something."

 

" _Humph_ , well you can call back and tell 'em I've been treat like a fucking _princess!_ " Was Akako's snarky remark.

 

Ayato explained that Akako had be something they called a 'prospective bride'.

 

"More like a sacrifice than a bride" Laito joked.

 

Akako cocked an eyebrow at him in disbelief. "So what, we're just some sort of sacrificial Bride? _That's_ what you call the girls who come here? If you go through 'em so fast you get one every month...you guys must have a hell of a lot of divorces under your belt." She scoffed, shaking her head. "Then again, I guess I can't expect a bunch of vampires to do things the human way…"

 

"What did you just call us?" Shu muttered, one of his eyes cracking open. They were a pale blue, Akako noted _._

 

She felt a strange tingle go up her spine, telling her the tension in the room increased. It became almost stifling to sit there. Akako scoffed and gave Shu an 'are you serious?' look, making every effort to avoid the itch in her feet to run for it. "Oh, come on, I knew you guys were vampires _before_ I came here but…were you lot actually _trying_ to hide this fact? All you've done since I've walked in here is smell me, lick me, try to bite me- for fuck's sake, 3 of you _teleported_ right in front of me!"

 

Every single pair of eyes turned to glare at her, lighting up with sinister intensity. Akako had always believed the eyes were gateways to the soul, and in that moment, staring frozen into theirs, she felt the primal hunger only a vampire could feel radiating out of them. For the first time since she'd entered the vampire's lair, her blood turned cold.


End file.
